Domestic apparatus



March 10, 1953 A, MOD, HESS 2,630,922

DOMESTIC APPARATUS Filed June '15. 1949 INVENTOR odic inspections and housecleanings occur.

Patented Mar. 10, 1953 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE,

DOMESTIC APPARATUS Alexander McD. Hess, Jamaica, N. Y. Application June 13, 1949, Serial 'Nd s'snsv 1 Claim.

. 1 This invention relates to a household apparatus.

More particularly the invention comprises a portable clothes rack which may be employed in closets or clothes presses for supporting clothing such as mens suits and coats, and womens dresses and gowns which usually are hung on hangers or hooks in the Walls of such closets. The invention'also is adaptable tos'erve as a rack for'shoes, neckties, and hats.

For many years the. art of caring for wearing apparel, otherthan linens, furs, etc., in the homeseemsto have followed a pattern and consequently has been at a standstill, e. g. apartments or houses customarily are provided with closets or clothes presses where mens suits, coats, hats, shoes, etc. or womens suits, coats, gowns, dresses, shoes, hatsetc. are hung upon supporting bars, hooks, racks, etc. Such supports usually are secured to the walls, ceilings and doors of suchclosets or receptacles and from which garments or other articles of wearing apparel must be removed individually at the expense of repetitive physical exertion, and laid on beds, chairs, or perhaps other temporary and inconvenient means of untidy appearance when peri- It may be necessaryto remove. the usually secured wheeled out of theclo'set for the purpose of ordinary house cleaning and dusting and there'- supporting member's'from the closet or receptacle walls, ceilings and doors at great inconvenience, especially at times of renovating or redecorating the house. Moreover the arrangements of such secured supporting means are consistently inflexible and often inconvenient, there beingoften some remote corner or out of reach top shelf. On the whole the ordinary process of removing and replacing the contents of the average household closet or clothes press is a tedious, laborious, and time-consuming task. Further the seasonal requirements of individually removing from closets, packing in trunks and cases and storing such :garments is of itself a considerable undertaking.

An object of the invention is to provide a supporting means as a unit which is adapted to the proper support of articles of wearing apparel in closets, and which may be removed bodily therefrom for the purpose of inspecting, airing, or sunning, or for any other purpose, making the clothing thereupon readily available without disturbing its support, and thereafter the supporting means and the articles of apparel as a unit may be returned to the closet.

Another object of the invention is to provide supporting means for articles of wearing apparel in a closet or press which as a unit may be aftermay be returned to the closet or press with a minimum of physical eifort and'time requirement (as contrasted to the'ordinary requirement of removing and replacing individual articles of apparel).

Still another object of the invention is to'provide a unitary portable supporting means and protective cover which with its entire contents as a seasonal requirement may be wheeled from its closet or other receptacle in the household, enclosed completely in a cover after a proper anti-insect treatment of the supported garments and placed in a suitable, space in the attic, basement or elsewhere.

These and other objects andnovel features 01' the invention may be better understood from the detailed description which follows when considered together with the accompanying drawings which illustrate a preferred embodiment of the invention in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of the invention showing various articles of wearing apparel in skeleton outline supported therefrom.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken on the lines 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a plan view showing in outline the interior of a closet with two racks according to the present invention situated therein.

Referring now to the drawings:

A vertical member I having a horizontal'member 2' preferably formed integrally therewith both of which may be made of a light tubing'of a suitable metal, alloy or a synthetic material is slidably supported within a hub member 3 which has lug members 6 preferably formed integrally therewith for securing supporting rod members 8 which in turn are supported upon roller or caster assemblies 9, the wheels of which may be rubber tired.

The hub member 3 is provided with a thumbscrew 4 for securing the vertical member I when it has been adjusted appropriately as to height according to the limits permitted by the construction of the various parts of the rack.

The lugs 6 are preferably constructed at an angle from the horizontal so that the rods 8 when moved outwardly or inwardly in the lugs and secured by set screws 1 shall serve to increase or decrease the height of the hub member 3 above the floor thus permitting of greater vertical adjustment of the vertical member I and its supported parts.

An annular member slidably mounted upon the member I rests upon the hub member 3, and has secured to it rodlike members H which may be two or more in number, and which in turn support the hooplike members l2, l3, and M, which are secured to the members H and which serve as a. rack for shoes. The supporting memhers I l are preferably shaped as illustrated in Fig. l, i. e. having an upwardly projecting return so that they may serve as handles H which may be grasped for the purpose of rotating the assembly comprised of members It], H, [2, l3 and 14 which as explained serves as a rack for shoes. The shoe rack assembly itself is so proportioned as to depend in a skirt-like manner around the support assembly comprised of members 3, 4,9, I, 8 and 9. Moreover the hooplike members l2, l3, and 14 are of such relative diameter that shoes supported thereupon will depend at such-an angle outwardly from the vertical that the side edges of the soles, and heels on mens shoes, at the widest point of which they usually are about four and three inches in width, respectively, may be approximately contiguous one shoe to another in an orderly spaced relationship with each other. In other words the circumference of the hooplike member 13 shall bear a relationship of three to that of four in the hooplike member [4, e; g; ifthe circumference of member I3 is 15 pi (where the diameter of the hoop is 15 inches) then thecircumference of the member i l shall be pi. (where the diameter of thehoopis'20inches). 1.

Additional horizontal members, 15- and 18 may be secured to the horizontal member '2, and which may serve as a tie racln, A tablelike member 20 is appropriately supportedupon a pedestal member 2! having a thumb screw 22 for securing it to a vertical member 23 which projects upwardly from the center of member I. j

The horizontal member 2 may be made of any convenient length and at its bottom side may be slotted from the ends as illustrated in Fig. 2 and Fig. 3 to take hangers having knob supports, or if such hangers are not readily available then ones having hook supports may be'used.

Extension members 25, also made of light tubing but of smaller diameter, and adapted to slidably fit inside of member 2 may be provided as extension supporting members, Ordinarily such extension members would'be useful where closet doors are narrow as compared with the closet width inside.

In some places it may be desirable to place two racks having rectangular platforms 20 in a closet such as illustrated in Fig. 4. Such an ar- 4 rangement has the advantage of utilizing the maximum amount of the closet space for top platform space as well as hanger space; while placing all hanger supported articles within easy reach and visible from the door, without the necessity of reaching within the closet and pulling the articles around.

Another outstanding advantage of the present invention is that an entire rack full of apparel may be treated against insect molestation and completely enclosed as a unit in a casing such as a. so-called zipper bag and placed in the basement or attic during out of season periods. As will be apparent such makes for utmost ease of storing or removing therefrom and obviates the erstwhile tedious job of folding and packing in boxes or trunks and removing therefrom.

Other advantages and novel features of my invention may become apparent, and minor changes may be made. from the preferred embodiment disclosed herein without departing from the spirit and scope thereof, and it is desired that suchbe limited only by the foregoing description and the appended claim.

I claim: 7 a

A shoe rack comprising an annular member slidably and rotatably mounted upon a vertical tubular member, inclined rod-like supporting members having their upper ends bent inwardly and downwardly and secured in said annular member and their lower ends projected outwardly and downwardly, hoop-likemembers of different diameters secured toHsaid rod-like supporting members with the smallest in diameter at the top and the largestatithe. bottom forming an inclined circular rack which is sloped outwardly toward the bottom.

ALEXANDER McD. HESS.

REFERENCES crrnn The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

